FriendOfDeSoto

@FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Maybe most of society doesn't have much critical thinking because those who get those "critical thinking" genes go crazy from overthinking things and therefore fail to pass on the genes.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think this is genetic though. Critical thinking is something you should learn how to do. It’s a failure due to chronic underfunding in education.

  I do agree with you that the people who can do it, often despair and withdraw from public discourse out of frustration. But they could be making babies like rabbits at the same time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK about the French Republican Calendar⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I think it would be fair to highlight that this was revolutionary France’ brainchild. It is a republic today as well but they’ve gone back and forth on that one a bit in the last two centuries.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How hard would it be to trap gated communities by crashing dozens of cars into the front of their gates blocking them from leaving ?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a funny coincidence of history that gated communities for the well off folks in capitalism and mass housing for the not well off in communism follow the same design principle: few access points that can be controlled by a single tank each.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Is it possible? Yes. You can see examples in mainland China where foreign channels, including the more liberal channels from Hong Kong, routinely get blacked out when China news come on (unless they are gloriously positive).

  Is it likely where you are? No. Especially it happening on broadcast channels you would hear a lot more about it. The socials would be full of it. There would have to be an office full of people censoring broadcast channels as they go out. We know the Chinese are operating such a facility because we heard about it. And we haven’t heard anything like that for the US. Ockham’s razor points at a buffering issue somewhere along the distribution chain from the news studio to your local antenna. A streaming video, like on YouTube, is just freeze framed when it’s buffering also. And I don’t think you as an individual consumer are important enough for somebody just doing it for your receiver.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Captcha, but for bots, I imagine. Fits in with the general conspiratorial theme.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  There are certain crimes you will never be able to fully eradicate. You can only try to get them down to the bare flawed human minimum. For pretty much as long as there are laws and courts, killing in cold blood has been illegal. But to this day humans kill humans in cold blood. All we can do is make good laws, prosecute perpetrators, and increase awareness. If the latter is what you mean by grassroot change, then sure. If we stay within the hypothetical, I don’t think a mass accident (like an accidental gas leak) or mass murder (a gas leak made to look like an accident) of the whole bunch on Epstein island would bring about a cultural change. My personal fear is that this whole exposé of this particular case only served to make the rich fuckers even more careful when they do it, not do it less.

  At the root of the Epstein case is money. Billionaires should not exist. The quality of legal representation should not depend on one’s bank account. If you want a grassroot cause, tackle that one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m afraid that pedophilia is prevalent everywhere. We only hear about the rich people more because journalists take an interest and rich people think - not unjustifiably - that money is a good protective shield and therefore take more risks.

  In this hypothetical scenario, if all these people were pedophiles or turned a blind eye to it, were assembled at the same time, and all punched their ticket to a delightfully shitty afterlife, I don’t think the problem would be gone. There will be willing successors standing by to fill all of these positions. And it would be a stroke of luck if the waiting successors were suddenly more moral beings.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why is it called "overseas" even if a dispora population move to a place connected by land?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Not to worry! And thank you for this civilized exchange that managed to stay clear of Godwin’s Law:)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why is it called "overseas" even if a dispora population move to a place connected by land?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Does a nation cease to exist after it is conquered? All the efforts to that effect by the English notwithstanding, it’s still there.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why is it called "overseas" even if a dispora population move to a place connected by land?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  [Angry Welsh noise, probably involving a lot of consonants and a few double L’s]

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Is this déjà-downvote I feel?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨THE FEDIVERSE IS TOO INFECTED WITH REDDITISM!!⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  IT’LL GO PLACES WITHOUT YOU THEN. THANKS FOR PIPING UP.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How did we go from being against fake pictures of the moon to accepting things like changing out the entire sky?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  We should not start accepting manipulated images as a replacement for real images

  My point was that it is already too late for that. I understand how your feel. I also think that you’ll be part of a minority.

  There is no such thing as a real image.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  [Redacted], [redacted], or maybe [redacted]. We would all benefit if we just didn’t hear from him ever again and then his name or title really don’t matter.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How did we go from being against fake pictures of the moon to accepting things like changing out the entire sky?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It was Samsung and they were just ahead of the time. Consider that in the field of photography we’ve gone from a photograph being a big and often expensive black and white deal to snapping pictures willy nilly on a device everybody carries around in their pockets. We had already accepted retouching of photos even before Photoshop. Photoshop or similar applications are now also available to more people on the same devices they carry around to snap ask these pictures. Photographs today are an artifice of human intervention and/or computer processing. No image is just what happened. The RAW data has probably been heavily edited by the photographer to get the final effect they wanted. Even before so-called AI they have gone in and changed shit around. And they’ve become so masterful at it that most of us cannot tell the difference. They have probably, on occasion, replaced a whole sky or the moon on shots before they ended up in a brochure. This is nothing new. So if these tricks get automated now, that shows me more how widespread they already were. And I think we are not talking about this as much because we as a society like being cheated like that because it looks good.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Has anyone here ever doubted if your parents were your "real" parents? Is it normal to have these weird thoughts?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Machine learning is so good now that it can ID your face as a baby as well. Not always, but with enough pictures you’ll reach statistical certainty.

  Other than that you could maybe test DNAs. On a less invasive level, if you know your blood type, you could ask your parents for theirs and see if that makes sense.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Has anyone here ever doubted if your parents were your "real" parents? Is it normal to have these weird thoughts?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Has anyone ever doubted their parents are their parents? Most teenagers about their biological parents during puberty.

  Is it possible that you were abducted after running away? Yes. Is it very likely? No. These cases are rare but get lots of news coverage.

  If you’re under 40, the lack of pictures of your childhood could be conspicuous. Most parents document the progress of their kids and after the advent of digital photography there should be lots of evidence to put your mind at ease.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm so goddamn sick of this fat, orange, narcissistic asshole and I will celebrate when he dies⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ll be glad when he is no longer in power. I’m equally afraid of who will succeed him. Could our angry Americans please use their anger to change the absolutely insane system by which a president is elected and then invest wholesale in education? That’s just two examples I could think of off the top of my head. What’s good about getting rid of the orange only to fall into a fruit salad?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The concept of teen superheroes is stupid and boring⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I disagree. I find teenage super hero stories the only enjoyable ones. I don’t want my heroes to have to deal with quotidian grownup issues like paying the mortgage, having to work overtime, or worrying about their octogenarian parents. I want the biggest issue in their universe - apart from saving Earth from total destruction by a comical villain - to be the history paper that is due next Monday or how mom reduced their pocket money. I prefer the simplicity of interpretational relationships in a school setting. There is the bully jock and the nerdy girl who when she takes her glasses off becomes instantly attractive. Give me all the tropes. And I don’t need or want an R rated version of all of that.

  In closing I just want to take a moment and applaud your personal growth. In showerthought after showerthought you’ve struggled with people dating much older people. And in this one you’re quite open to and positive about a twenty-something dating somebody twice their age! Well done you.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What are some good uses the new ballroom can have after the Trump regime is over?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  On a list of priorities, having a ballroom for state dinners and what not would not be high on mine. But as a big government whose reputation 47 hasn’t ruined entirely (yet), I can see the usefulness of a dedicated ballroom for these functions. He is all about appearances and little to no substance behind it. Some government functions are like that, even when the people running it have decidedly more substance behind it than this shriveled mandarin. I would have looked at a gazillion other issues first if I were him but I also take pride in not being him or being similar to him in any way. So let him have his silly ballroom. The construction of which will reveal either that they cooked the numbers or [clasping pearls] it was built by immigrants without the proper visa. You can rename it the Obama ballroom or something when he’s gone (eventually/hopefully) and I suspect you can pawn the gold leaf from the walls to help reduce the budget gap he’ll undoubtedly leave behind.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do people get rid of or sell stolen jewelry? I ask cause the news says the the Louve thieves can never sell it because it so known?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As I said, I’m really just making it up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do people get rid of or sell stolen jewelry? I ask cause the news says the the Louve thieves can never sell it because it so known?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I could imagine a deranged billionaire, like imagine a son of emerald miners who used his inherited wealth to buy EV or space companies, somebody who is quite short and self conscious about it, with a small penis feeling he needs to have children in triple figures before he flies to Mars. Anyways, a filthy rich guy like that who has everything and now wants a memento of Napoleon. He’ll keep it in a secret basement and that’s where he will go to masturbate looking at it.

  It seems weirdly specific but I’m really just making it up.

  I think this will stay in somebody’s basement. Even if you took it apart, experts will be able to recognize parts of the jewelry even if they chopped it up, say, the gemstones that were part of it. There are probably easier ways to get the same amount of valuable materials that won’t raise as many eyebrows when you try to fence them. So either these thieves are learning that lesson right now or a mad billionaire is masturbating next to it in his basement.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Yacht Trouble? 7 Common Problems & Fixes⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This isn’t but also somehow is a shit post.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  NSFW

  spoiler

  A woman’s primary genitals have an odor that many people have compared to that of fish. So if the seal’s head was in closer proximity to her nether region, that could explain the comments. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a joke.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When baking, if your oven can't reach the temperature stated in the recipe, do you then just adjust for time?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I would say for 3 out of 5 recipes extending the time will probably work but you’ll need to eyeball and needle/poke it. But if the recipe relies on the baked good to form a crust at this higher temperature, the result will probably not be as good. That’s more crucial with bread. Test it before you invite people over.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How can I "fake" like I care about others?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Seek professional help before somebody dies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This. You shouldn’t get one if you asked for it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The fact that users are encouraged to include text descriptions with media content makes it perfect training data for AI.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s not perfect training data. Being encouraged to add alt text and actually doing it are two different things. Writing good alt text is another matter all together. And anything that’s on the internet is training data whether people want it to be or not. The only difference is ethical whether the scraper accepts and respects a version of robots dot txt, i.e. “do not scrape,” that communicates the training data’s holders’ intentions. And if they torrent books you can guess how respectful they are.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A.I. Video Generators Are Now So Good You Can No Longer Trust Your Eyes⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You couldn’t “trust” video before sora et al. We had all these sightings of aliens and flying saucers - which stopped conveniently having an impact when everybody started carrying cameras around.

  There will be a need to verify authenticity and my prediction is that need will be met.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A.I. Video Generators Are Now So Good You Can No Longer Trust Your Eyes⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Maybe the NYT’s headline writers’ eyes weren’t that great to begin with?

  The tech could represent the end of visual fact — the idea that video could serve as an objective record of reality — as we know it.

  We already declared that with the advent of photoshop. I don’t want to downplay the possibility of serious harm being a result of misinformation carried through this medium. People can be dumb. I do want to say the sky isn’t falling. As the slop tsunami hits us we are not required to stand still, throw our hands in the air, and take it. We will develop tools and sensibilities that will help us not to get duped by model mud. We will find ways and institutions to sieve for the nuggets of human content. Not all at once but we will get there.

  This is fear mongering masquerading as balanced reporting. And it doesn’t even touch on the precarious financial situations the whole so-called AI bubble economy is in.